Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-05-21
DAILY HERALD.
EouALIzING.
The Times and the state h"af"
sn County Assesssaents-

State Board OF Equalization in their en-
deavors 10 treble the assessment oi tins
and drain the pockets cf our
taxnavers ont of several hundred thou
sands OF dollars. Mr.. l.. c. Morehouse
is the only Republican member ot 'he
State Board, and the Times is constantly
having itself interviewed by Mr. More.
house, and giving its readers the oeneh'
of the information thus obtained. Mr..
Mason. the Asse ssor, is also Repubil-
can. and the Times thinks itself he.
publican organ. The old common law
of England said that she king can do
NO wrong" and the Times evidently
thinks that no Republican can do wrong
NOT even if he trebled the State taxes ot
this county. There was, once upon
time an OH German potentate, who,
npon having been demonstrated with for
breaking all the rules OF grammar, ex-
chained. 81 am above all grammar.
And the Times, in its zeal for It's clients,
the State Board, is above all facts and
ignores all figures. The HERALD had
occasion in a recent article to point out
90 the Times and Mr.. Morehouse that
this county had for the past len
wears been assessed at a higher valuation
proporiionally than any otner county In
the Stale. We gave a column or so OF
figures taken from the last report OF the
state Bard OF Equalization to prove
our statement. These figures were un-
answerable, and were unanswered. The
Times allows MIR. Moreh ouse to give it
figures to prove its assertions, and does
not take the trouble to verify these hg-
ures. In its issue of the 18th inst. 1t
auotes MIR. Morehouse as having said:
I'm Contra Costa and Sutter counties
the assessment rolls have been doubled
during the past few years, and others
have been largely increased, and the
people are satisfied"
BY referring to the last report of the
State board, we find on page AZ that
the assessment of Contra Costa county
was Si44 l37 lower in 1856 than it was
in 1855, and the assessment OF Sutter
county was S957, 10 lower in 1856 than
in 1885. We find that % of the
count,.s in This State lowered their
assessments between those years nearly
$4,000, 900, while Los Angeles increased
her assessment of 1856 over 1885 by
nearly IS. 900, 600.
The Times says editorially: "Since
the board came down here there has
been q great deal of kicking among
properly holders, aud especially the
large ones. They claim that the County
Assessor ought not to be encouraged by
the board IN bringing the assessments
up. TIE Assessor has bet n abused
right and left by people who have not
giventhe matter thought, and do not
know what property has been assessed for
during the past few years. While the
assessment roll has remained at stand.
still the values have Increased wonder
fully"
Now. we have heard great many
complaints this year about Mr.. Mason's
assessment being too high; but these
complaints have almost all come from
farmers owning from l60 to $40 acres.
Some of the deputies of the present As
SCISSOR are reported as having assessed
farming lands away above their cash
value. The farmers declare that they
have been for years assessed right up
TO the full cash value OF their lands,
while other counties get off with ten
Der cent of the cash value. Some three
wears ago the Board of Supervisors sent
one or two deputy assessors up north to
rseertain how San Francisco and the
rich counties around the bay had been
assessed. They found plenty of in.
stances iu San Francisco, Santa Clara,
SanMateo, and other counties where lands
were assessed at less than ten per cent. OF
their value, and stocks of merchandise
at even less. The Times says that
"while the assessment roll of this coun-
ty has remained at stands.ill, the val
nes have increased wonderfully Is
the Times so lamentably ignorant of the
affairs of this county as not TO know that
since 1880, when the State Board came
into existence, the assessment roll has
been increased by our assessors from
$4,000. 600 to over $40, 600, 900, or near.
1y go per cent? Let us give that paper
some further figures from the last report
of its friend Mr.. Morehouse, and his
associates. la 1880 the total assessment
of the lan6s in this State was S666, 80,
9S5, and of personal propertySl74. 5l4 906.
In the very first year OF the existence oi
the State Board, the total assessment on
land fell off nearly 5000, 600 of dollars,
and the decrease on personal property
was rearly $4,000. 600. In the second
year of the State Boards control of our
assessments the assessments on real
property fell off over 81 900, 900 of dol.
lars, and on personal property over
n, 1000, 600 Of dollars. In both of these
years our Assessor had added millions to
our assessment roll. The Assessors in
the northern counties were alarmed at
the prospect OF raise in their assess.
ments by the State Board, and imme.
distely lowered their values, and have
kept them down ever since. In 1850
the total assessment of personal prop.
erty in this State was STA, 5l4 ,906. In
1886 it was but Sl5l, ,937, 1872. de.
crease in this item alone of nearly
S23. 200, 600 during the six years OF the
State Boards existence. Every sane
person outside of the Times Office knows
that the personal property in this State
during those years has increased ovel
three hundred per cent, and every sant
person also knows that the millions thus
escaping taxation were left off of the
rolls of the wealthy counties of Santa
Clara, San Mateo, Sacramento, Alameda
and the city of San francisco. The
State Board in their report for 1856 say
that "the strife TO reduce assessments
between counties has not ceased. They
say, '.the merchant is his own assessor
Money also escapes assessment. !"
Acknowledging as they do in this re-
port. that the northern counties
and the city of San Francisco
escape assessment upon hundreds
of millions, has the State Board done
anything to punish these counties or
epualizs them as regards to other coun.
ties in the State? They have done abso.
lutely nothing. Instead of acting fairly
by the other counties, and raising these
fielinauents to the amount they acknowl.
edge In their report as escaping their
t.xation, they content themfe elves with
xsmarking 80 refuse to give statement
to the Assessor ia San Francisco is